Was the Ahmadinejad story left behind?

December 27, 2006 By

atomic explosion 1The Religion Newswriters Association has released its annual poll to determine the top 10 religion-news events and trends of the year. It is, in my opinion, a very ordinary year with an all-too-familiar blend of politics, Episcopal sex, Middle East warfare, one tragedy and one (or often two) events involving the pope.

Some things rarely, if ever, change.

Meanwhile, you can click here to see all of the RNA poll materials, including the choice of the Amish — all of them — as the religion newsmakers of the year.

But this was one year when I really, really felt there was an important religion event that was overlooked in the poll. In fact, it did not even appear on the ballot as an option.

Thus, this is how I opened my Scripps Howard News Service column covering the RNA poll results. Yes, there are GetReligion echoes in this column — obviously.

Imagine the following event in your mind’s eye.

President George W. Bush is addressing the United Nations amid global tensions about nuclear weapons. He closes with evangelical language that expresses his yearning for the triumphant second coming of Jesus Christ and prays that this apocalyptic event will unify the world — sooner rather than later.

Do you think the speech would cause a media storm? Do you think journalists would dissect his mysterious words, along with his theology? Would this be considered one of the year’s most controversial religion-news events?

Bush, of course, never delivered an address of this kind. However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did say the following as he ended his dramatic Sept. 20th United Nations speech.

“I emphatically declare that today’s world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet,” he said, referring to a Shiite doctrine about a coming apocalypse.

“O, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause.”

If these references to “the perfect human being” do not sound familiar, there is a reason for that. This section of his address received little media attention. Thus, it isn’t surprising that the Iranian leader’s end times vision was not selected as one of the top 10 stories in the Religion Newswriters Association’s 2006 poll. In fact, it didn’t appear in the top 20 events.

Instead, the top story selected by the religion-news specialists was the deadly violence ignited by the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in periodicals in Denmark and a few other European nations. Boycotts led to protests and then to destruction and, in Nigeria, Muslims and Christians died in the riots.

Clearly, mainstream journalists still struggle with the complicated religious beliefs that loom behind today’s headlines. Offensive cartoons in the West are a huge story. But mysterious words in the East — even offensive words — do not draw nearly as much ink.

Updates: If you want to read the whole Scripps Howard column, here is the full text. Sorry for the delay, but WiFi is hard to find in Crawford, Texas. Chicken-fried steak? That’s another matter.

If you want another point of view, here is a short version of the Religion News Service report on the poll. And the gang at Christianity Today‘s blog have now posted their take on the year’s top 10 events. It offers several non-RNA poll twists, but Ahmadinejad is missing from this list, too.

Print Friendly

Filed Under: Anglicanism, Catholicism, Evangelicals, Film, Godbeat, Journalism, Politics, Pop Culture, World
About TMatt

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

  • Jeffrey Weiss

    I will gently suggest that the importance of that particular address depends on the importance of the speaker. The president of Iran is just a bit more than a figurehead — not much actual power.
    And if last week’s Iranian election is any measure, Ahmadinejad ain’t all that popular even amongst his homies…

    Having said all that, I’ll grant that mayhap it should have been considered for the top 20…

  • Jerry

    I really agree with you on this one. It’s a classic elephant in the room that no one talks about.

    That story could and should have been an opening to look at not only Ahmadinejad but also apocalyptic theology in general. There are some who claim that President Bush has that belief as well.

    “I emphatically declare that today’s world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet,” he said, referring to a Shiite doctrine about a coming apocalypse.

    That is also Christian theology about the Second Coming and Kingdom of Heaven on earth if you capitalize the word “Savior”.

  • Sarah Webber

    Do you think it was ignored because the MSM is only interested in Iran in terms of destruction (i.e., nuclear ambitions) or are they really ignorant of Islam’s apocalyptic story? Or do they believe their readers don’t care? I’m not a fan of end times rumbling from any religion but I still think his words were significant, especially when spoken from the United Nations platform.

    Was there a reaction to this in the Islamic press?

  • http://www.geocities.com/frgregacca/stfel.html Fr. Greg

    Well, the Telegraph covered it:

    ‘Divine Mission’ driving Iran’s new leader

    I agree that if Bush – or Blair had something like this, it would have caused a firestorm. I’m not sure why it doesn’t when Iran’s President makes these comments. However, subjectively, I find that I am less interested in such comments coming from gentlemen of this type than I would be if the speaker were Bush, Blair, Putin, etc.

    What I AM interested in, however, after reading the Telegraph article, is what the IP’s agenda is with regard to moving up the timetable for the Madhi’s appearance. That is extremely interesting, and potentially frightening, to me. The situation is roughly analogous to having, say, Hal Lindsey, or Jack Van Impe, in the White House. Whether or not the US would try to destroy the Dome of the Rock, in order to make room for a new Jewish temple, would then be an open question. Does the IP somehow believe that “wiping Israel off the map” will somehow hasten the Madhi’s coming?

    Finally, having worked in the (general) newsbiz, I appreciate the link to the Religion Newswriters website. I will have to deconstruct THAT later.

  • http://carelesshand.net Jinzang

    The trouble is, you can’t write the story without explaining a good bit of Shiite history and theology. In a country where even our politicians don’t know the difference between a Shiite and a Suni and which has an MTV attention span, that’s quite a burden on the reporter.

  • Chris Bolinger

    I disagree, Jinzang. I know little about Islam and its various factions, but Terry explained the importance of Ahmadinejad’s statement and put it in the proper context, all in just a few paragraphs on this blog. As I have stated in other posts, the U.S. press seems happy setting the bar really low when it comes to reporting on religion. It’s extremely lame to excuse poor coverage with a claim that the audience is ignorant and wouldn’t get it anyway.

  • Jerry

    I’m having trouble spotting what was updated in this entry. Perhaps such material could be highlighted in some way?